Artist Interview

Thousand Foot Krutch's Trevor McNevan Has Faith to "Be the Change"

By Clay Morgan Contributing Writer

CBN.com
 After 17 years as frontman for Thousand Foot Krutch, Canadian rocker Trevor McNevan has held on for the wild ride of a professional musician's life. Keeping the music moving, McNevan and his TFK bandmates lit up the charts with the release of The End Is Where We Begin in the spring of 2012, reaching No. 14 overall and No. 1 on the Hard Rock and Christian/Gospel-Mainstream Retail Billboard charts.

Recently, McNevan took some time off during the band's War of Change Tour to answer a few questions for CBN Music contributor Clay Morgan.

Clay Morgan: The War of Change Tour is underway, but it almost didn't happen for you due to a scary health issue. What happened?

Trevor McNevan: A few weeks ago, after the Super Bowl, I was walking from my living room to my kitchen and out of nowhere, my back literally felt like it shattered. A few days later, it was so bad I couldn't even move. It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I tried to make it down the stairs to head to the hospital and blacked out. My wife had to call 911 and ambulance me into the hospital. It was crazy!

They ran a bunch of testing, over the course of a few days, and the doctor said I had an irregular case of degenerative disc disease. He said my two options were to stay on heavy pain meds and muscle relaxers for the rest of my life or to have a back surgery that in most cases resulted in a wheelchair.

My wife and I were like, "what?!!" We believe in a big God, so we weren't going to accept that. So we started praying. The band, our friends and family started praying. People around the world were praying (I sent out a tweet). It was amazing.

The next day, I went for a ride somewhere with my wife, just to get out of the house. I was going stir crazy! On the way back, at a random moment, I was instantly healed! I felt all of my strength and energy come back in an instant. It felt like I could run a marathon. I turned to my wife and said, "I think I was just healed..." It was amazing man. So thankful! God's so good.

CM: How scary were those thoughts of long-term or permanent injury? I imagine that tests your faith.

TM: It's a surreal moment when someone turns to you and gives you news that alters your entire life. I honestly don't remember letting it get to the point of scary though. We just started praying.

CM: It's been almost a year since your new album, The End Is Where We Begin, burst onto the scene in a big way. How has being at the top of the Billboard charts and having your songs played in so many places changed life for you and TFK?

TM: We feel very blessed to have had the experiences we've had/shared, and this has been an amazing year. We've been through a lot since the beginning, and appreciate every minute of it. The way we feel about music, the way it communicates, and our hearts for this, is the same as they've always been. The stages, venues, audiences are just getting a little bigger!

CM: You've highlighted the message that we have to be the ones to make change happen, that we hold ourselves back. Why are you so passionate about emphasizing that call to action?

TM: "Be The Change" (a lyric from the new record) has become more like the album slogan. It's not pointing the finger. It's talking about us, about me and anyone else who wants to act, rather than talk about it.

CM: When you broke into the song "Be Somebody" (at a concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the crowd really reacted. You've said that song is about as honest as it gets, and your audience seemed to have a real connection with it. Can you talk about that?

TM: It is a very personal and honest song for me. It was the first song written for the latest album, and came after some creative frustrations, re-listening to our old indie albums, and realizing that we were pretty terrible back then, but God's anointing was still there. That was powerful, the same way it is today. I wondered why we couldn’t live in this moment of realization all the time in our lives. My wife said, "Why don't you write about this? How God speaks to you through songs?" I went upstairs, picked up a guitar and wrote this song.

CM: What do you say to someone who feels like he or she is just being trampled by life?

TM: I'd say, don't worry. Get up. You have what it takes. You can and will make it through this. God loves you more than you will ever know and you're never alone.